


Closure

by sbstevenson2



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 15:10:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14022942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbstevenson2/pseuds/sbstevenson2
Summary: Written for Prompt Party 2018!Prompt Party Prompt #35. Facilier’s magic enables Regina to speak to Robin one last time. (Feel free to include him being semi or fully corporeal if you wish.)- Regina finally gets the closure she was denied when Robin died.





	Closure

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this before we saw what Regina and Facilier’s relationship is like on the show, so there’s some differences lol  
> This is one of my takes on the closure we were denied in canon. Enjoy and let me know what you think!
> 
> {**********************}

“I’m nervous,” Regina says, letting out a lengthy exhale.

Facilier, being supportive and understanding of the need she has, places a hand on her shoulder. “I know, Regina. It will all be okay.”

She’s been friends with him, Facilier, for the last few years. She’s even gone as far as to go on a few dates with him now that they’ve met again in their cursed Seattle town. Guilt had been her number one feeling at first, until she was reminded that Robin had been gone for over twenty years.

She still misses him with her whole being, always will. He was her greatest love, the kind she knows she will never experience again with anyone else.

Facilier, though, he’s strong and surprisingly nice. He’d been a villain, just like her, who had redeemed himself over a few rocky years. They understand each other, and that makes conversation easy, but it’ll never be like it was with Robin.

He’d lost love in the past, too. Another piece of information that had bonded them. So, when she’d asked him her favor, he said he just couldn’t refuse.

Being cursed to Hyperion Heights, and now having her memories back, made her realize that she couldn’t get to Robin’s grave. She’d visited it every day the first year he’d been gone, some days spending hours out there, sitting against his headstone, caressing the lions engraved upon it and telling him about her day. After that, it became a weekly occurrence as she tried to tell herself to move on with her life as much as her soul was aching.

When Regina had gone off to help Henry and his family in another realm, she’d taken his burgundy scarf she’d stolen from him so many years ago, the feather she once thought was long lost to her, and a necklace made from a string of his bow, with a tiny arrow hanging from it, to always remember him by.

This was the moment of truth though.

_Breathe_.

She just kept repeating that word in her mind. Breathe. _Breathe_. Facilier, with his magic she has yet to fully understand, is able to communicate with the deceased. When Regina had discovered this, it’d taken her a few weeks to work up the nerve to ask him for this favor.

How does one ask the man you’re currently seeing to help you communicate with your dead soulmate?

He’d agreed, however, saying when he was able to speak with his lost _Iris_ , it had been a wonderful moment of closure for him.

That’s all she seeks, really. Knows that she can’t ever bring him back, but she just wants to be able to speak to him and maybe even see him one last time. Wants the closure she was so cruelly denied.

Facilier’s spell is a one time deal, so she’s hoping with all her might that this works.

“Okay,” she breathes, nodding resolutely. “I’m ready.”

Sprinkling his dust and chanting his spell, Facilier’s eyes close and his body shakes a bit. It’s strange seeing someone else perform magic that she doesn’t understand.

Stepping back when a light starts to emanates from his body, Regina shields her eyes from the bright light. 

After a few beats of silence, she feels a tug on her arm that’s resting over her eyes.

Letting her hand be drawn away, she opens her eyes and gasps.

Standing before her is the man she never thought she’d see again. His blue eyes shining with all the love she remembers, always so open and vulnerable to her.

He smiles, his dimples she’s dreamt about for so long displayed in full glory on his cheeks.

“Regina,” he says, his voice sending a jolt of electric emotion straight to her heart.

She shakes her head in disbelief, tears clouding her visions. She blinks them away, not wanting to miss a single second of him standing there. “It’s really you?”

He chuckles, deep and warm like always, the sound she’s heard like a whisper in her mind for years now, saying it’s really him.

She takes him in, eyes scanning over his frame. He looks the same, hair sprinkled with a few flecks of gray, brown cargo pants, gray jacket zipped underneath his leather jacket resting on his shoulders, and god, she hopes she looks the same to him. Being frozen in time has it’s advantages but standing before him now, she runs a nervous hand through her hair. His body isn’t fully _there_ , it’s a bit dimmer than the rest of her surroundings and his image shorts out every now and then before returning. It’s like a bad connection to an old television.

But it’s enough. More than enough. It’s all she’s ever wanted. She’d always grieved his loss behind closed doors, but seeing him now, she feels like the door is wide open and can’t help but to whimper at his presence.

She smiles at him, tears spilling from her eyes and gently cascading down her cheeks.

He reaches out then, wiping his finger along the apple of her cheek, clearing that spot of dampness. Her eyes close at the sensation, the feel of his fingers on her igniting more memories than she thought possible. Images of soft caresses in the hallway at Granny’s, tender touches alone in her office, his body pressed against hers in their bed at night all flood her mind.

“I just never thought I’d have this,” she cries, reaching out to pull his body close to hers. He wraps his arms around her middle as hers encircle around his shoulders, hands settling into the hair on the back of his head. She inhales, hoping to smell that forest scent he always sported. She’s disappointed at first when she doesn’t smell _anything_ , a small detail that reminds her this isn’t permanent, this isn’t real. But there’s a small gust of wind where they stand by the lake, and in that moment she catches just a sliver of a pine scent being wafted into her nostrils. She hopes she remembers that scent forever. The words she’d just spoken send her mind back to their picnic in her office when she’d been open and honest about her past and as she soothingly traced over his tattoo, telling him that they were soulmates. A fact he had always been happy about.

“Nor did I, my love.” His voice is as soft and gentle as she remembers as he pulls out of their hug, still standing in her embrace, and it sends a shiver down her spine. She’d missed his voice - has always wished she had a recording of it somewhere she could listen to, and in this moment she’s kicking herself for not planning ahead and capturing this moment, as gut wrenching as it’d be to playback later, at least she’d have his voice saved forever.

“I know you were worried, Regina,” he says, running his hand along her jaw, down her neck to cup the back of her head. His hands tangle in her hair at the base of her skull and her eyes close at the contact. “I could see you, you know.”

“You could?” She’s blinking back her tears, trying to be strong. She’s never felt weak in his presence; Robin wouldn’t see her tears as a weakness anyway, but as a strength, always seeing her as someone who has survived more than most.

He nods, saying he’s been watching over her since the day he left this Earth, effectively causing those tears that she’d done so well to dry up spring to life again.

“I’m so sorry, Robin,” she sobs, burying her head in his shoulder. “I should have tried harder to bring you back.”

In her moments alone, in all her grieving she did inside the confines of her mansion or vault, she’d researched any spell she could find that might bring back the dead. Ultimately, she’d found the same answer time and time again - it wasn’t possible. Hook had been brought back by the help of Zeus himself, but Regina couldn’t figure out how to get to the god and beg for Robin’s return. After a while, and the comforting words of Snow White when she realized Regina was making herself sick trying to return Robin to the land of the living, she had to come to terms with the hard truth.

She’d lost another love. Her soulmate. Gone. Obliterated.

Though, clearly not obliterated, just like Henry always told her. He really is such a smart boy (man, now). She’d chosen to have faith back then, believing in her son’s words, but a small part of her never truly believed it completely.

Robin shushes her at her confession, pressing a soft kiss into the crown of her head. “You did all you could do. I’m fine, love.”

“You are?” Her voice sounds more vulnerable than she’s ever heard it, a tremble in her throat she’s never experienced before, but she can’t bring herself to care in this moment.

He sighs lovingly down at her, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. He reassures her that he is; he knows she looked up every magical spell possible. “I made my choice that day, Regina,” he says, cupping her cheek. “And I don’t regret a thing.”

Her tears brim in her eyes and catch on her bottom lashes at that, knowing deep down that she believes him. Believes that he doesn’t regret it and would probably do it all again the same way if it came down to it.

She looks into his eyes, those crystal blue eyes that still to this day she sees everytime she closes her eyes. She wants to kiss him, isn’t sure if she _can_ kiss this ghost of her other half, but she sure as hell is going to try.

“Can I kiss you?”

He smiles, chuckles a breathy laugh, and says, “I thought you’d never ask.”

Robin leans in then, lowering his lips to hers. When his lips touch hers, pressing fully into her pout, silent tears slide down her cheek once more. Her brow furrows, much like it did when she’d kissed the other Robin, but this time they settle back into their rightful place on her face when she realizes that this is the Robin she was meant to kiss. This wasn’t like kissing a photograph, this was kissing _her_ Robin, her partner, her soulmate, her _everything_. The feel of his lips on hers after so much time, brings equal parts overwhelming joy and heartache at the same time. This is the last time she will ever feel his kiss, ever feel his skin on hers, so she better make it last.

It doesn’t feel any different than when he was living and breathing, not just a holographic image of himself floating above her lips like she thought might happen. It’s his real lips on hers. She thought it would feel like kissing air, but it just feels like coming home. A part of her has been missing for twenty six years, and she finally has that part back right in front of her.

He runs his tongue along the seam of her lips, and she gladly grants him access, moaning when his tongue slips inside her mouth. They stand there, tongues and limbs mingled together for a beat before he pulls back, removing his tongue and caressing her lips with his again.

She sighs when he eventually pulls back, breaking the kiss.

“Just as good as I remember,” he tells her in his deep timber, smirking down in her direction.

She giggles at that, an honest, light hearted giggle, a sound she hasn’t made in two decades; it’s like music to her ears.

His smirk softens into a smile as his hand lift, finger reaching out to trace along the worn out hemp that hangs loosely around her neck. With a sad, curious smile, he says, “The string is from my bow. I’m glad you kept it.”

She reaches up to cling to the arrow pendant, her hand settling atop his as their eyes meet again and their smiles match each others. “I couldn’t get rid of it.”

Facilier steps in then, gently letting them know they don’t have much time.

She looks to him sadly, then back to Robin, those damn tears falling down her face again. Robin’s crying now, too, sending an ache to the pit of her stomach.

“I don’t want you to go,” she cries forcefully, wrapping her arms around him, clinging to him for dear life. “I miss you so much.”

He cries out a choked sob, saying, “I don’t want to go either, my darling, but just know I love you.”

_I love you_.

It’s the three little words that hold so much meaning. Three little words they were never given the chance to say to each other before Hades pointed his crystal in their direction and ended his life, ruining hers in the process.

“I love you, too,” she weeps, sniffling in an attempt to reign in her emotions. Her eyes are most likely red rimmed by now, as the tears keep falling, but she wants control over her voice again so she can talk to Robin for as long as they’re able.

She leans back enough to look into his eyes, arms still wrapped around each other. “Where did you go? I mean… you obviously weren’t obliterated like Hades said.”

“No,” he sighs, tilting his head to the side in that adorable way he always did before. “I was able to move on to the light.”

She closes her eyes and sighs contentedly, happy to know he at least went to a better place than being stuck in the Underworld forever like so many others.

He goes on, saying he remembers falling to the ground, remembers his blue form staring into her sad eyes and reaching out to try and caress her cheek one last time. “I’ve always been so angry that I was unable to feel you. I wanted to let you know it was going to be alright.”

She wetly chuckles, looking off into the distance as the memories of that day come back to haunt her like they’ve done so many nights in the past, before landing her gaze back on his.  

“I knew you’d blame yourself, Regina,” he says, caressing her cheek before reaching down to take her hands. Their fingers interlock and she commits the feel of how perfectly their hands fit together, like a key finding it’s perfectly tailored lock, to her psyche. “And I didn’t want that. This wasn’t your fault. _I_ made that choice.”

His voice is raw with emotion as she looks deeply into his eyes, and she can hear the bubble of tears his voice is straining around. Gripping his hand tighter, she assures him that she knows he chose to step in front of her. “I just wish you hadn’t. I wish you had let me take the blast.”

He chuckles, saying, “Well you always were the more stubborn one, weren’t you?”

She smirks, ducking her head into his shoulder before standing back up again. She shakes her head at him, amazed that he can be so light hearted even in this moment. So typically Robin, finding the bright spots in a darkened moment.

She swats his shoulder as a pang of anguish courses through her. This isn’t permanent. This isn’t _forever_. There’s only a few short moments remaining of her time with him and then he’ll be gone for good, off into wherever he’s been all these years.

“You said you’ve been watching over me?”

He smiles softly, breathing out a _yeah_. “I’m so proud of you, Regina.”

Her eyes widen at his confession, stunned that _proud_ is the word he’d choose. Thinking back to when she split herself, as much as it taught her to love every part of her just as he’d always done, she always felt guilty. Always felt like he’d be disappointed in her for not learning to love herself when she was all put together in one messy package.

“You were so brave to split yourself and take on your darkness like you did,” he says, running his hands up her forearms and giving her biceps a loving squeeze. He admits that if he’d been there, he would’ve encouraged her not to split herself in half, was a little miffed that no one tried to stop her, but the end result had been worth it.

His eyes mist over after that, saying he’s glad his darker version was able to find love with her doppleganger. “We really are meant to find each other in every realm possible, yeah?”

As a tear slides down his cheek, she reaches up to wipe it away, whispering out an agreed _yeah_.

He runs his hands back down her arms, coming to rest of her hips as he leans down, pressing his lips to her once again. Pulling back, he smiles before leaning in and placing one, two, three more pecks to her lips, causing her to smile into the last one.

He looks heavenward for a second, then brings his eyes to look at Facilier who is still standing a respectable distance away, before landing on her eyes again. “I have to go,” he sighs, squeezing her hip lovingly.

“No,” she breathes, not yet ready to let him go. “It hasn’t been long enough.”

Sighing, he tears up and agrees, saying, “Forever wouldn’t be long enough to spend with you, Regina.”

She cries out at his words, leaning in to kiss him again, holding him tighter to her body. She never wants to let him go again.

“I love you, Robin,” she affirms before he brings his lips to hers again.

Pulling back, he places his forehead against hers, adding an, “And I love you,” before lightly bumping their noses together. An action done so many times in the past that it became second nature to them, and it brings a small, damp chuckle to escape with her tears.

He hugs her tightly, and she knows. _Knows_ that his time is up. He’s leaving again, and this time, she’ll never see him ever again.

“I’ll still be watching over you, darling,” he tells her, pecking his lips against that spot on her nose he’d just touched. “Don’t ever forget that.”

She nods, wiping the tears from under her eyes. “I won’t.”

He kisses her forehead, letting his lips rest and linger there for a few seconds. “I just want you to be happy, Regina.”

Robin takes a step back, and she takes a step forward, refusing to let him go just yet. He tells her to say hello to Henry for him, tells her how beautiful his daughter has become, and asks her to go visit Roland when she can to let him know his papa loves him.

It send a pang of contrition to her middle. Roland. The little boy she loved so much and never got to say goodbye to, just like his father. She’d gone to visit him a few months after he left, and it had been a beautifully tragic reunion. He’d been so happy to see her, but promised her he was happy with Uncle John and the other Merry Men. He always told her he could grow up to be the next Robin Hood, but _Roland Hood, Gina!_ And he had. She’d checked on him every now and then before being cursed to Hyperion Heights, and he had indeed grown up to be just like his father; stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. While she didn’t like the thought of her Roland being a thief, the similarities between him and Robin always made her smile.

“I will. I promise,” she vows, knowing she’ll do everything in her power to get in touch with his son.

He nods, sighs, and leans in, wrapping his arms around her.

They stand there in silence, rocking each other side to side for a few moments. She’s sure it was just a few seconds, but being in his arms again feels like a lifetime. A lifetime she never wants to end.

Facilier gently speaks her name from where he stands, letting her know that _it’s time._

She looks to him, then back to Robin, another sob escaping her throat. She shakes her head in disbelief. “No.”

“You have to let me go, Regina,” Robin cries, cupping her cheek as she leans her head to rest in his palm. “I have to go, love.”

“I know,” she whispers, closing her eyes to squeeze out the tears stuck on her eyelashes while the rest stream down her face. Knowing it’s all about to end is making it impossible to reign them in, especially when Robin is just as affected by the situation.

He places one final kiss to her lips, then steps back. Smiling at her brightly through his tears, he takes her hand in his. “I will always love you. And I’ll be waiting for you whenever your time here is through.”

She nods silently, wiping her cheeks and huffing out a calming breath. “You promise?”

He smiles again, whispering back, “I promise. After all, we’re destined to be together in every realm.”

With that, he squeezes her hand and lets go. Vowing his love to her again, he steps back a few more feet to where he first appeared.

He nods in her direction and she takes a shuddering breath, unwilling to believe this blissful reunion is really over. “I love you. Always,” she tells him, feet planted in her spot, unable to move. It’s as if the spell is forcing her to stay in place, knowing she would give up everything in that moment to run to him, cling to him, and ascend into the light with him for eternity.

His smile is brighter than she thinks she’s ever seen it as he looks up toward the sky. Looking back to her, blue meeting chocolate brown for the last time, he tells her again, “I love you, too.” They can’t seem to stop saying those words, but she figures when they missed their chance while they were both alive, they’d use every free second they have now to say it over and over again. Years from now, she won’t need a recording to remember how those words sounded coming from his lips. She’ll dream of his _I love you’s_ until the day she dies and can be with him again.

She smiles back at him, sobs finished, cheeks now wet with freshly shed tears.

“Goodbye, Robin.”

With that, an all encompassing white light surrounds them, so bright it causes Regina to turn her body and shield her eyes. When she turns back around, Robin is gone.

Sinking to her knees, she cries out in pain, and in joy. He’s gone, but he’s happy. And he’ll always be watching over her.

After a moment, she feels Facilier’s hand on her back. She closes her eyes and sighs. Back to reality.

She stands, turning to face him as she wipes her tears away again, and says with as much sincerity as possible, “Thank you.”

He smiles, murmuring a _you’re welcome,_ as he stretches his arm out to the distance, motioning toward her car.

As they make their way up to her car and back to her bar, she smiles. She’ll live her life, for now, knowing that one day she’ll see him again, joining him in the light for all of eternity, finally being able to spend their existence together as soulmates should. She will always have an ache in her heart, and in her soul, at the loss of Robin, a void that can never be filled by anyone else, but knowing he’s safe, and content, and waiting for her on the other side brings her more joy than she ever thought possible.

She finally has closure.

 


End file.
